Newsflash: Don’t Rely on Mitch McConnell to Save You From Donald Trump
July 31 2020 (Eudaimonia & Co) -- There’s a thing that authoritarians do that us survivors of authoritarianism know all too well.
They surround themselves with flunkies and cronies. All of whom are just that little bit more respectable, seemingly reasonable, than they are, polite, well-mannered, even mild-mannered sorts. Senators, perhaps, Congressmen, politicians, pundits of all kinds.
They seem to be, sometimes, at odds with the authoritarian.
But these men are what they are: flunkies. The purpose of a rank of such men — and sometimes women, but usually men — is complex and subtle. To provide cover, to stall, to excuse, and to justify. If you look closely, no matter how much they might claim to check him, to balance him — they never do.
And so a dynamic is born that those in authoritarian nations know all too well.
The authoritarian proclaims: “I’m going to do this!” Society, terrified, flies into an uproar. Quietly, politely, even meekly, the flunkies whisper: “He’ll never do that. We won’t let him do that. We’ll stop him. Don’t worry, OK? Just between us!”
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